Barack Obama

Barack H. Obama is the 44th president of the United States. He was born in Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961. After college he moved to Chicago, where he became a community activist. Obama attended law school at Harvard, returning to Chicago as an attorney and law professor, and was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996. He was elected to the United States Senate in 2004. Obama, America's first black president, was elected Nov. 4, 2008, and re-elected in 2012. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

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It was 1965 and Henry Marsh sat incredulous as Virginia's former attorney general told a U.S. Senate hearing that the commonwealth didn't discriminate against black voters.
What would eventually be known as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was up for...

In 2008, Virginia's 13 electoral votes went to a Democrat for the first time since the early 1960s and people began referring to the state as purple.
On Thursday, the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University released a study...

Hampton Roads' members of Congress are digesting President Obama's new nuclear pact with Iran, and largely withholding final judgment while harboring worries about the long-negotiated deal.
They have two months to make up their minds, and the president...

U.S. Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott will carry the president's free community college proposal, which would use federal and state money to provide 2 years free education to millions of students.
Scott, D-Newport News, rolled the bill out...

The White House is lit up in rainbow colors in commemoration of the Supreme Court's ruling to legalize same-sex marriage. Gay and lesbian couples in Washington and across the nation are celebrating Friday's ruling, which will put an end to same-sex...

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday praised the Supreme Court's ruling declaring same-sex couples have a right to marry and suggested that her Republican opponents were being left behind by history.In one of her most...

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a key element of the Affordable Care Act Thursday, ruling that people in states that never established state-based exchanges still qualify for subsidized health care under the law.
The decision protects subsidies for...

Sometimes, it’s good to have a pal in the White House. President Barack Obama signed an executive order expanding the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program to recognize students who opt for Career and Technical Education programs. Former technical school...

Barack Obama's listing presidency took on more water Friday when the House voted against trade legislation in which he was heavily invested. This time it was Democrats who spurned the leader of their party, jumping ship as the president pleaded with...

The acting top law enforcement officer in the Eastern District of Virginia may soon become somewhat more permanent.
Since U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride stepped aside in 2013, one of his underlings, Dana J. Boente, has been acting in his stead to oversee...

It takes some unpacking to explain what happened in the U.S. House today on Pres. Barack Obama's trade legislation.
The conensus is he suffered a bad loss, unable to convince fellow Democrats to back a key portion of the package, and dooming the...

Virginia Democrats asked the federal court system Thursday to overhaul state voting procedures, accusing the state's Republican leaders of purposefully rigging the system against young, minority and Democratic voters.
The suit particularly targets...

As a candidate for the presidency, Barack Obama promised that his would be the most transparent administration in history. It's a mantra he repeats from time to time, as if he hopes that saying it often enough will make it true.
It's laughably false,...

Virginia conservation groups are applauding a new federal rule that clarifies protections for upland streams and wetlands across the country, including more than half the streams in Virginia.
The Clean Water Rule was formalized last week by the U.S....

Tomorrow marks the completion of 10 months of America's war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Since August, we've deployed thousands of troops to support military operations in Iraq and Syria, including the Roosevelt Carrier...

Sending the men and women of our armed forces into combat is a matter most grave. It demands careful consideration, thorough debate and a firm commitment of support from our elected officials and the nation's citizenry.
The framers of the U.S....

Did Speaker of the House John Boehner’s comment suggesting Congress not act on President Barack Obama’s reluctantly-offered request for an authorization for the use of military force make at least some of Virginia’s Congressional delegation bristle a bit?...

The House of Representative easily passed legislation today that gives Congress a chance to review any nuclear deal with Iran, as The Chicago Tribune reports here.
It had already passed the Senate, and president Obama is expected to sign...

President Barack Obama's massive Pacific trade deal began its long and likely difficult path through Congress Thursday, but not before both of Virginia's senators were called to the White House in an effort to recharge the deal.
All but one Senate...

Presidential war powers is a hot issue in Virginia, at least for Sen. Tim Kaine and Rep. Scott Rigell.
But Rigell took pen to hand recently and in an essay for Roll Call, a newspaper for Capitol Hill, to say President Obama surprised him this year.
...